London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

IS THE end nigh for the famous fortnightly Private Eye lunches? Their venue, the equally legendary Coach and Horses pub in Soho, the setting for the Keith Waterhouse play Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, is under threat from brewers Fuller’s, which bought the freehold in 2011.

“Fuller’s bought the freehold from Punch Taverns last year for £3 million and now it wants to make it into a Fuller’s branded pub and fill it with tourists,” says landlord Alastair Choat. “Our 10-year lease ran out in March and we’ve said we want to renew it but Fuller’s has made objections to us renewing it, so now it’s up to a judge to decide.”

A petition that has gained more than 400 signatories calls on Fuller’s to “protect a true Soho institution from corporate homogeneity” and states: “The Coach has always been a boozer, a little rough around the edges. That’s what makes it tick and separates it from the other chain pubs now taking over central London.”

Choat adds: “Jude Law came in here two nights ago. Sean Bean also comes in here. Here kings and paupers come together — and you don’t know who are kings and who are paupers.”